An -elect is a political candidate who has been elected

Election

An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...

 to an office but who has not yet been sworn in

Inauguration

An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's term of office. An example is the ceremony in which the President of the United States officially takes the oath of office....

 or officially taken office. These may include an incoming president

President-elect of the United States

President-elect of the United States is the title used for an incoming President of the United States in the period between the general election on Election Day in November and noon eastern standard time on Inauguration Day, January 20, during which he is not in office yet...

, senator, representative, governor and mayor.

Analogously, the term "designate" (e.g. Prime Minister-designate) is used in systems without direct elections of executive politicians, such as in parliamentary systems

Parliamentary system

A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined....

.

Title

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, a person elected to office at the state or federal levels, and sometimes by custom at local levels, is given the courtesy title of the Honorable (abbreviated to Hon. or Hon'ble).